I was a bit thrown when my super sweet four-year-old son asked me to create a breakfast that would look like his new teddy bear (who's dressed as a pumpkin, by the way). Okay, I'll be honest. It didn't turn out looking exactly like the stuffed bear/pumpkin, but it was cute and was eaten right away! Hooray!

So ask your kids what "character" they might like to see on their plate at breakfast. If the resulting creation even resembles the requested item, I think you and your breakfast will be greatly appreciated! Oh, I haven't mentioned that this will only take a couple minutes to make! It's so quick and easy!

Ingredients:

1 slice of your child's favorite bread

1 egg

Salt

Olive oil

Preparation:

Serves 1Prep time: less than 5 minutesCooking time: less than 5 minutes

Use a tiny round cutter or small knife to make eyes, a nose, or whatever's requested of you. Be sure to save your cut-outs as they could become ears or a beard. (You never know.)

Coat a small saute pan with olive oil and place the bread and cut-outs in the pan. Turn the heat to medium and then, in a small bowl, whisk your egg until it's well-blended. Season it with a bit of salt and pour a bit into each opening in your bread. If there's any excess egg, just add it to the pan and you can use it for a decoration or for your character's hair. Cook until the egg is solid, about 1 minute. Use a flat metal spatula to carefully flip the bread over — this will be your "show" side, as you'll see it will look neater than the other side. Cook for just another 30 seconds or so, and serve!

Valentina's passion is food, and she loves spending time in her "kitchen retreat," as she refers to that room in her house. Valentina develops recipes for creative and comforting food that works perfectly for casual entertaining. Both her recipes and food photography have been featured many times on popular food websites and in print. Valentina shares her beautiful photographs as well as new and interesting recipes almost daily on her blog, Cooking on the Weekends.

Outside the worlds of food and photography, Valentina's other passion is her family (including her two young boys, her husband and her puppy, Maple.)

To learn more about Valentina and where her work has been featured, visit her About page at Cooking On The Weekends.